New Moon in Capricorn

But because life here compels us, and because everything here seems to need us, all this fleetingness that strangely entreats us. Us, the most fleeting . . . Once for each thing, only once. Once and no more. And we, too, only once. Never again. But to have been once, even though only once: this having been earthly seems lasting, beyond repeal.

— Rainer Maria Rilke from The Ninth Elegy

The thing about a threshold is the unknowing. The inherent liminality of being in between means where you are going is not where you have been, nor who you are now. Astrology can be helpful for alerting us to these periods of intensified personal and collective transition and transformation, but not when we try to use the craft of astrology as just another attempt at control or intellectual distancing from the visceral reality and meaning of our experience. Periods of accelerated change can incite fear and grasping for coping mechanisms due to the extremity of uncertainty and impossibility of knowing what will happen. Those mindful of the meaning of larger astrological cycles know that we are entering such a time in 2025 and 2026. There will be no way to control outcomes, but there will be immense potential for being moved and opened to new expression of creativity and presence of being. The only way through will be to embrace the flux, facing the changes while opening to possibility far beyond preconception.

The New Moon in Capricorn on 30 December marks our transition into a new year and new era. With the Capricorn Moon applying to a restorative sextile aspect with Saturn in Pisces, the domicile lord of the lunation, we will be lent the penetrating vision of the Goatfish gazing into the underlying fabric of reality to discern what can be built upon a sturdy foundation versus what needs to be let go. The inward receptivity and earthy pragmatism of the Capricorn New Moon relating harmoniously with Saturn in Pisces will be helpful for realizing what needs to be reduced or cut back with grace so that there will be more room for the thriving shoots of new growth to take root in the year ahead. Within the sacred space of your New Moon and New Year rituals, the two-faced presence of Janus will be available to look back at where we’ve been in ways that will enhance the sharpness of our forward vision, holding the key to unlock the gate of the optimal path forward.

The dense forests and towering mountains of Capricorn are the home of Saturn, yet the rugged landscape of the Horned Goat also exalts the courageous willpower of Mars as it is zodiacal terrain that can hone our capacity for facing challenges and persevering through experiences of uncertainty and changing conditions. The brazen cockiness and fierceness of Mars will be the most extreme and dramatic ingredient within the astrological mix of the Capricorn New Moon, as Mars retrograde in Leo will be applying closely to an opposition with Pluto in Aquarius. Mars formed its first of three oppositions with Pluto on 3 November 2024, with its second one becoming exact on 2 January 2025 a few days after the lunation. While we’ve already been adjusting to the tumultuous, change-inducing frustrations of Mars retrograde ever since Mars stationed retrograde on 6 December, the volcanic fury of the opposition between Mars and Pluto will reach its cathartic crescendo within the darkness of the Capricorn New Moon. Ambitions may be stoked to achieve visions lit by a sense of destiny, or we may instead have to face inner blocks and patterns of power struggles from our past getting in the way of fully committing to the pursuit of goals.

Indeed, due to the Capricorn New Moon also forming a square aspect with Chiron stationing direct in Aries, it may be necessary to gain deeper awareness of wounding patterns from our past that are currently impacting our capacity to claim greater agency and overcome fears of uncertainty. Chiron will station direct at 19°00’ Aries on 29 December, giving Chiron an intensified presence and influence over the Capricorn New Moon that may feel uncomfortable but ultimately can bring important realizations that will lead to empowering change. Be easy on yourself if you are struggling with the disempowering side of the Mars and Pluto strife, as the transformative change that ultimately emerges from Mars retrograde transits can take time and require passage through a fiery furnace of tests and conflicts before the new form is forged. The combined influence of Mars retrograde, Pluto, and Chiron suggests that there are deep patterns at work that may be related to ancestors or other aspect of soul we strongly feel at our core. Bringing a patient and curious perspective to whatever inner issues are emerging to confront will help open awareness to the exciting and revitalizing new desires that will also be surfacing.

Here is the time for the sayable, here is its home. Speak and attest. More than ever the things we can live with are falling away, and ousting them, filling their place: a will with no image. Will beneath crusts which readily crack whenever the act inside swells and seeks new borders. Between the hammers our heart lives on, as the tongue, even between the teeth, remains unceasing in praise.

— Rainer Maria Rilke from The Ninth Elegy

After the New Moon in Capricorn experiences its reanimating solar conjunction on 30 December, the waxing Moon will experience its first crescent light while passing through an invigorating and revelatory trine aspect with Uranus in Taurus on 31 December. The flowing trine between the rebirth of lunar light with the Promethean potency of Uranus will invoke a breaking free from the past to enter a new year that will contain the quality of a new astrological era beginning. Following the transition from 2024 to 2025, we will experience a significant turning point on 2 January 2025 due to three factors: the entrance of Venus into Pisces, the opposition between Mars retrograde and Pluto in Aquarius, and Mercury in Sagittarius moving beyond its retrograde shadow zone to fully shepherd us from the degree range of the Mercury retrograde period that began on 25 November 2024 when Mercury stationed retrograde. Altogether this means that the calendar flip between 2024 and 2025 will hold astrological significance that will bolster the feeling of a new year inception.

The entrance of Venus into Pisces on 2 January will enthrone the star of Aphrodite upon her exalted pinnacle of essential dignity where she possesses elevated status and increased capacity to rise above difficulties that could drag us down. Venus signifies harmony, aesthetics, pleasure, art, music and other sensual delights, and so within the inwardly directed and watery home of devotional Jupiter, Venus can express the full range of her boundless sensuality and aid us in reconciling what has been previously separated or disrupted within relationship. Venus is a magnetic force in astrology that brings elements together, attracts and binds us to what we feel in the depths of our soul so that we may align relationships with our deeply felt sense of values and passions. Due to Pisces being a mutable sign of transition that can aid in moving between endings and beginnings, Venus in Pisces will also be helpful in not only envisioning a reality in which we may behold our soulful desires but also in taking steps to alter our reality in accordance with the vision of life we wish to participate in creating.

With Mars retrograde and Pluto applying to an exact opposition that could exacerbate conflicts at the same time that Venus is entering Pisces, it will be important to patiently work through any conflicts that come up within long-term relationships as this will only be the first phase of many more changes to come in 2025 due to the Mars retrograde transit that ends on 23 February being almost immediately followed by a Venus retrograde period that will begin on 1 March. Moreover, Venus will spend most of the first four months of 2025 in the sign of Pisces due to stationing retrograde at the beginning of March. Venus will remain in Pisces until 3 February and then return to Pisces again from 27 March until 30 April, and so shifts in storylines corresponding with the entrance of Venus into Pisces may have an unusually longterm impact that will continue playing out with additional plot twists for months.

Most significantly, this means that Venus will spend an unusually long period of time sharing the sign of Pisces with Saturn. During the waxing half of the forthcoming lunar cycle, Venus will get closer and closer to Saturn until being four degrees away at the upcoming Full Moon in Cancer on 13 January and then completing her first conjunction with Saturn on 18 January. The influence of Saturn upon the transit of Venus through Pisces will add gravity and seriousness and lessen the flights of fantasy Venus in Pisces might otherwise take us on. During the waxing half of the lunar cycle ahead, explore how the presence of Venus in Pisces can lead to creative problem solving of dilemmas you’ve been experiencing related to Saturn in Pisces. There may be an introduction of a story that will experience significant developments later in the year when Venus moves back and forth across Saturn due to her retrograde phase. Although Saturn and Venus sharing Pisces may feel uncomfortable, their combination can help us realize what needs to be shed and cut back as well as where we can patiently build new supportive structures to support us through the great changes coming in 2025.

After Mars retrograde in Leo completes its exact opposition with Pluto in Aquarius on either January 2 or 3 depending upon your time zone, notice if you experience a catalyst for breaking free from any ways that you have been resisting deeper change in the following few days. There will then be a significant turning point in our experience of Mars retrograde on 6 January when the star of Ares will exit from Leo and enter Cancer. The shift from Leo to Cancer will not only be dramatic due to the different natures of Leo and Cancer, but also due to the fact that Mars will be reaching its most extreme retrograde phase when it applies to an opposition with the Sun. Mars is considered to be extremely hot and dry symbolically, qualities that go with the way Mars activates acceleration in movement, inflammation, and separation, and when Mars retrograde comes to the opposition with the Sun it is also the most extremely hot and dry phase of its solar cycle. As a result it is the most extreme expression of Mars, and can feel uncomfortable whether the corresponding events are breaking you free into new areas of growth or causing pain due to strife and severing. Visually we will see this living symbolism in the sky after the Sun sets into darkness and Mars rises on the eastern horizon in its brightest crimson hue, as close to us in orbit as possible. Since the burning intensity of Mars retrograde will be exacerbated as we approach the Full Moon in Cancer on 13 January that will also form a conjunction with Mars, we will be gaining increased awareness in the two weeks following the Capricorn New Moon for the ways in which the Mars retrograde transit has been melting down formerly solid structures of our life in order to reforge new forms.

The differences between Leo and Cancer are also dramatic due to Leo being the fiery home of the Sun and Cancer being the watery home of the Moon. Cancer is also the fall of Mars, zodiacal terrain in which Mars can have an extreme and unorthodox expression that has the potential to drag us down into draining conflicts. Cancer is a place of intimacy, emotional accord and inward focus, and so Mars retrograde moving into Cancer may volatilize relationships and our inner emotional states, but it also has the potential to activate breakthroughs in discovering new sources of desire emerging from within. Cancer is also a cardinal sign that will initiate events quickly and can be extremely devotional in focusing upon achieving goals, and so in a positive way Mars retrograde in Cancer can help in clarifying what we want and focusing on what we want to create with tenacity and resilient perseverance.

The week following the Capricorn New Moon is also significant due to Mercury moving beyond the degree where it stationed retrograde at the end of November. Mercury is applying toward a square aspect with Neptune in Pisces that will become exact on Monday 6 January, the same day that Mars moves backwards into Cancer. On January 4 and 5, the Moon in Pisces will move through a square with Jupiter and conjunction with Saturn in Pisces, into a square with Mercury in Sagittarius and a conjunction with Neptune, deepening the intensity of the square aspect forming between Mercury and Neptune. Altogether these aspects will bring new insight whatever processes of change you experienced during the Mercury retrograde period in November and December that then led into Mercury activating the Jupiter and Saturn cycle at the end of December. However, there may be a new sense of larger vision emerging that relates to the much larger patterns of change coming in 2025. Being open to a larger vision of what you can create in the year ahead will be helpful for embracing the immense changes that will be rippling across the world in the next couple of years, as long as you remain mindful that you will need to come up with realistic shorter term goals that can effectively take you there in the years ahead. If the Mercury connection to Neptune is instead bringing up feelings of disillusionment, be curious about the deeper truths about yourself and your core purpose that can emerge from the dissolution.

Capricorn 1 Decan

The New Moon is in the first decan of Capricorn associated with the Two of Pentacles arcanum illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith.  The image of a juggling magician set against a backdrop of sea change embodies the capacity of Capricorn to penetrate into structural forms and impact matter from the underlying fabric of reality. Fittingly for a decan focused upon shaping material fortune, the first face of Capricorn is ruled by both Jupiter and Saturn. The Jupiter rulership of this decan is especially important in relation to the Capricorn New Moon, as the Moon will also be in the bounds of Jupiter. T Susan Chang in 36 Secrets wrote that Jupiter’s rulership of this face is shown through the metaphysical lesson of the Two of Pentacles: “the only constant is change.” Chang wrote that while the Two of Pentacles portends that nothing will be remaining the same, its connection with the first decan of Capricorn also signifies that there will be opportunities opening up to take advantage of for new growth and experiences. Looking for the silver lining amidst disruptive changes will be important to keep in mind since the lunar cycle ahead will peak in full light while simultaneously activating the most extreme phase of Mars retrograde.

Austin Coppock in 36 Faces ascribed the image of “A Headless Body” to the first face of Capricorn, stating it “entails the descent of the spirit into the body of the world itself,” bringing consciousness to deeper and deeper levels of matter to “set those powers in motion” as well as “use the higher, logoic functions to guide them along their course.” Coppock analyzed the attribution by the 12th century philosopher and astrologer Ibn Ezra of a bestial man carrying a cattle prod to this face, suggesting it reveals the capacity of this decan to not only set material forces in motion but also steer them in order to create change such as new sources of work and sustenance. Coppock further illuminated that since “the figures which roam this decan can root deeply into what soil they find themselves in,” using discernment in choosing which location to lay down roots within is critical. If we wish to utilize the capacity of Capricorn for building a sturdy foundation that will support the development of enduring structures, we need to be mindful where we choose to begin construction.

While Coppock cited the image of a headless man holding a sword found in the Hellenistic text Liber Hermetis as the inspiration for his image of “A Headless Body,” it’s further interesting that it also directly connects to the image for this decan found in Demetra George’s translation of The Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius (a Greek language text ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus during early Roman Imperial period, possibly around 50 CE): “Body of a man without a head, dressed in a scarab skin wrapped around his chest, small water urn in right hand, left hand stretched out upon thigh.” While the image of scarab skin in The Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius fits well with the scarab-faced deity Khepri in Egyptian religion who represents the rising sun, creation, and the renewal of life, the fact that the figure is also carrying a water urn reveals the purification and spiritual regeneration that can be experienced during the solstice when the Sun enters the first face of Capricorn. Like the headless Ketu associated with the South Node of the Moon, the headlessness of figures associated with the first decan of Capricorn also reveals the extraordinary power of this face for attuning with the underlying spirit of material forms.

Moreover, the “atavistic consciousness” Coppock described within the first decan of Capricorn that “descends into the natural world with ease” connects well with the Hellenistic text 36 Airs of the Zodiac attributing the ancestor of earth and body-based healers, Asklepios, to the first face of Capricorn. Asclepius, son of the Sun god Apollo and a mortal woman, embodies a centered focus which integrates all surrounding realms, both material and immaterial. Rooted in Earth, Asclepius is a healer who emerges in times of crisis and cathartic change, reverent of Nature, in balance with masculinity and femininity, and reliant upon ritualistic incubation to find healing cures. Asclepius is associated with healing through dreams, an incubatory process that reveals the connection between external symptoms and the underlying unconscious. With his hermetic staff planted in the ground, Asclepius weaves together meaning from celestial and chthonic realms through discernment centered in his sensual nature, applied to his work through disciplined spiritual practice.

The capacity of Asclepius to monitor synchronicities in waking and dreaming life for deeper meaning will be especially helpful to cultivate with the imaginal influence of Saturn and Neptune in Pisces intensifying in the months ahead. The first decan of Capricorn being the face of Jupiter and Saturn also connects with the importance of Jupiter and Saturn having recently completed their second exact waxing square since their great conjunction during the Solstice at the end of 2020, and the resulting capacity we will have for aligning our personal processes of change with the much larger collective cycles of change rupturing the status quo. Within the darkness of the Capricorn New Moon, may you come into deeper relationship with the roots of your soul purpose that will blossom and bear fruit in the year ahead.

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I also recently created a video about the Capricorn New Moon that also includes an astrology forecast for the first week of 2025 that you can watch here:

References 

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

Chang, T. Susan. (2021). 36 Secrets: A Decanic Journey through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot. Anima Mundi Press.

George, Demetra. (2021). Egyptian Decans: Star Gods of Time. Astrology University.